I wouldn't say you are really underweight. I was 155 at 5'11" at 18. I was also a track and hockey player and didn't lift. I could run or skate all day without tiring which was great for my sports.

Your weight is subject to change based on stimuli, I think its a little unjust to put a label on people based on what they are at now. If he was 130 then definitely, but 157-160? Damn I'm trying to get to 165, and do a planche. I wouldn't call someone who can do a planche not strong...hell look at Steven Low. He's around 130 and very strong, but for his bodyweight!

If you want to get big and strong and deadlift 500#, you only really need about 25-30# of weight on your bones and decent genes with some hard work. That's possible easily with your 4000+ calories a day, its just going to take some time. Patience is the key. Eating 4000 cals of dense food versus 4000 calories of not so dense food doesn't matter. What matters is you eat. Milk has the definite advantage over anything else, period! Not enough calories - more milk, put protein powder in the milk, milk, milk, milk! (Another thing you can do instead of drinking water always be drinking something with calories in it, easiest way to get calories throughout the day).

Another note - in 3 years, your metabolism will slow down as you stop growing and you are going to be able to put on weight easily anyways, just something to keep in mind. You are feeding an engine that is still working on building the final product, not improving on a base.

I'm not sure I understand the goal. 5'11'' 160 isn't tiny for a bike racer. for a strenth athlete it is but at that height you'd need to be looking at around 231-275 to fit the mold and so who cares....it's all for fun anyway.

I'd go with trying to eat until you're not hungry a couple times and see how that works. Sounds like you're worried about getting fat...otherwise you'd just be eating everything in site.

I don't think anyone can tell you about being underweight just based on your height.. all depends on your body type. I'm 5'11-6'0 and only 165lbs.. despite the fact that family and friends keep telling me I'm so much "skinnier" than I used to be I've stopped letting that get to me. I've been up as high as 190 using bodybuilding type nutrition but hell that was not my "natural" body type.. I had to stuff my face with carbs etc. Stuffing your face is not going to work long term IMO.

Check out these pics Robb Wolf points to:http://robbwolf.com/?p=371
Do these dudes look underweight to you? To me they look fit, strong for their weight, and likely to be healthy into their old age. Yet throw some clothes on them and I'll bet you they'd get their share of "you're really underweight" comments.

George- I hear ya. I played soccer and ran cc in high school, and could run all day. I still wasn't very athletic though. I could just run. And yeah, its milk with every meal for me now.

Dave- The short term goal is just to get stronger. Beyond that, who knows? I enjoy strongman/highland/lumberjack kind of stuff, so I'm thinking I might shift that way eventually. And yeah, I tried to be skinny for so long Im definitely a little hesitant. I think it has more to do with other's opinions than mine. I'm a work in progress.

Greg- Those pictures are crazy! Did you check out the linked article? The guy leaping off the boat... thats not how i learned to fish.

Maybe I just need a piece of whale meat taller than i am. That'd do the trick

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The trouble is that it's not a question of reason - Dostoyevsky